"More than one way to skin a cat" revisited

[Douglas G. Wilson]

I doubt the "catfish" etymology, although I don't
know for sure that it's impossible.

There were many references to skinning cats
(that's cats, not fish) -- apparently usually
taken as a very low-class or despicable act -- in
the late 19th century, aside from the "multiple ways" expressions.

Quick Google:

1856: "[T]here are more ways than one to skin a cat"

1853: "There are two ways to skin a cat"

1832: "There are more ways than one to kill a cat."

'Old proverb' (quoted in "Hudibras", 1744) "Care
will kill a cat" [Related? I don't know.]

Here is an entry from an English-German
dictionary from 1871 (at Google Books): <<...
brought up amongst fellows would skin a cat;
denen seine Arbeit zu schlecht war, vor nichts
zurückbebten. ... I skinned a cat for ninepence
... Aehnlich.>> The quotations are from 1859 and
1861. All three at Google Books.

If the original reference was to catfish, I
believe one would want to find at least one early
(that would be mid-19th-century or earlier)
example with "catfish" rather than "cat".

Note that (1) boys torture[d] and kill[ed] cats
for fun sometimes, (2) cats were/are cooked and
eaten sometimes, (3) cats were skinned for fur.

-- Doug Wilson


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